Beyond the Algorithm
A series on cybernetics, systems theory, and the question of machine consciousness. Each episode takes one thinker seriously in their own terms, then tests those ideas against the systems being built today. Episodes stand on their own, but they were written in sequence, and the arc rewards listening in order.
Created by Brigitte E. S. Jansen. Produced by the Gesellschaft für Arbeitsmethodik e.V., a non-profit association founded in 1954 and based in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Narrated by a synthetic voice. In a series about machine minds, that is part of the argument rather than a production shortcut.
All episodes and further reading: bta.global-future-association.com
The association: gfaev.de
Comments, corrections, and disagreements are welcome.
SHOW NOTES
Key Concepts
- Learning to learn, meta-learning, deutero-learning
- Levels of learning 0, 1, 2, 3 (Bateson’s framework, taken up by Pask)
- Concept formation versus pattern recognition
- Genuine concepts as conversational constructs
- Organizational closure
- Informational openness alongside organizational closure
- Autonomy through conversation
- Interaction of Actors Theory
- Multiple learning systems co-evolving
- Collective intelligence, distinguished from swarm intelligence
- Embodiment and chemical computers
- Material participation in shared worlds
- Conversational learning versus data training
- Paskian principles for machine intelligence
Primary Texts by Gordon Pask (continued from Episode 11)
- Conversation Theory: Applications in Education and Epistemology. Elsevier, Amsterdam 1976.
- The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance. Hutchinson, London 1975.
- “A Conversation Theoretic Approach to Learning Strategies” (1975).
- “Organizational Closure of Potentially Conscious Systems” (1981).
- “Styles and Strategies of Learning.” British Journal of Educational Psychology (1976).
- “The Limits of Togetherness” (1993).
- “Interactions of Actors, Theory and Some Applications” (1996). Late work.
- “Different Kinds of Cybernetics” (1992). Late reflection on the field.
- Microman: Computers and the Evolution of Consciousness (1982).
Secondary Literature
- Bernard Scott: Explorations in Second Order Cybernetics (2017).
- Andrew Pickering: The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
- Jon Bird / Ezequiel Di Paolo: “Gordon Pask and His Maverick Machines” (2008).
- Paul Pangaro: “Cybernetics and Conversation” and related papers.
- Klaus Krippendorff: “Conversation or Intellectual Imperialism in Comparing Social (Communication) Theories” (1994).
Connections Across the Series
- Gordon Pask, Part I (Ep. 11): the foundations this episode builds on.
- Stafford Beer (Ep. 10): Beer and Pask collaborated extensively; the Viable System Model and Conversation Theory approach autonomy from two sides.
- Heinz von Foerster (Ep. 4): organizational closure as a second-order figure.
- Ranulph Glanville (Ep. 13): Pask’s doctoral student; agreement across a gap becomes the black box.
- Gregory Bateson (Ep. 14): levels of learning, the source of the deutero-learning framework, and the close of Part II.
More from the Gesellschaft für Arbeitsmethodik
The association and its other programmes:
gfaev.de Our other podcast series, all in German:
GfA – Der Podcast · The same questions pursued in German, currently the series “Das Bewusstsein der Maschinen”:
gfa-ev.com
GfA Kulturwelten · Art, music and cultural history, including a series on the history of Tango Argentino: kulturwelten.
gfaev-online.com
Gut zu Wissen: KI & SEO Insights · Artificial intelligence, search and structured data, for people who have to make it work in practice:
gfaev.eu
GfA History · Recorded lectures from the association:
gfa-web.de
If something here was wrong, or right in a way we did not expect, write to us. Corrections and objections find their way into later episodes.
